A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Genre: Historical Fiction/Novel
Age Range: 7 and up
Summary: When young Sara Crewe arrives in London from India to attend Miss Minchin’s Select Academy, arrangements are made to give her the best of everything. While the other students live in a dormitory, Sara has her own room with a parlor and a maid, and her own pony and carriage. Despite her pampered life, she is not spoiled and is kind to the other girls and shares readily. She is always quick with a kind word and a journey into make-believe. One of the stories Sara tells is of a little princess who always behaves regally and scatters largesse on her subjects, in fact, she imagines that she is that princess. On her eleventh birthday, in the midst of her lavish birthday party, she finds out that her father has died and that his imprudent investment in diamond mines on the advice of a friend has left her penniless and without anyone to care for her. Miss Minchin has no sympathy for the little girl’s grief, and thinks only of the expenses she has incurred on Sara’s behalf that will now not be reimbursed. Angrily, Miss Minchin tells her that she must work for her to repay her for the trouble of keeping her, since she has nowhere else to go. Sara’s beautiful gowns are exchanged for one too-small velvet dress and a cold attic room takes the place of her warm parlor. Sara is made to work from dawn to late at night and is not given enough to eat. She is prevented from interacting with the other girls, except when she helps them with their lessons. Her friends are Becky, the scullery maid and Melchisedec, the rat, although some of the other girls maintain a clandestine friendship with her out of the view of Miss Minchin. Despite this, Sara maintains her demeanor as a princess. She tries always to be good humored and kind, even when the reality of her miserable situation seems impossible to bear. She imagines that she is warm and fed, and she shares this “magic” with Becky, Melchisedec and the magic makes her poverty more tolerable. One incident shows Sara’s character very well. One cold, wet day while she is out doing the shopping, she finds a coin in the street. She asks passersby if they have lost a coin, and when they indicate that they did not, she treats herself to a half dozen warm buns. On her way into the bakery, she notices a hungry girl sitting outside. She pays for the buns, takes one for herself, and gives the other five to the child. The baker, seeing this kindness and realizing what it must have cost Sara to give the food away, takes pity on the child and takes her in. Not long after Sara is banished to the attic, a sick Indian gentleman and his servant move in next door. The servant, Ram Dass, observes Sara through the attic window, and both to make Sara more comfortable and wanting to give the Indian gentleman something to distract his mind, invents a plan to surprise Sara with some comforts for her little room. In the night, while Sara is sleeping, he steals in and covers her with a beautiful, warm blanket, lights a fire in the cold grate, and leaves a meal on the table. When Sara awakens, she sees that the magic she has imagined has become real. One day, parcels come for the little girl in the right-hand attic, and when Sara opens them, there are warm and comfortable clothes, gloves, stockings, shoes, and even a warm coat. Miss Minchin is surprised that someone seems to care for Sara after all, and her treatment of her improves, as she contemplates, that Sara might, in fact, have a rich friend. One day, the Indian gentleman’s monkey escapes across the rooftops and ends up in Sara’s attic. Sara goes to return the monkey, just as the Indian gentleman finds out that his solicitor has been unable to find the little girl he is searching for. Thinking that visiting with Sara might cheer up Mr. Carrisford, Ram Dass introduces them. During the conversation, Sara reveals that she is familiar with India, was born there in fact, and that her father died there and left her penniless. Suddenly, everyone realizes that Sara is in fact the child they have been looking for, and Mr. Carrisford informs her that her father did not lose all his money, that the diamond minds have been very profitable and Sara is once again a rich little girl. Mr. Carrisford informs Miss Minchin that he will become her guardian, and all Miss Minchin’s attempts to ingratiate herself with Sara in order to reap a portion of Sara’s wealth are fruitless. Sara takes her friend Becky as her lady’s maid, is pleased to learn, upon returning to the bakery to make provision for other hungry children, that the child she helped now has a warm home in the bakery.